Man sentenced to prison for knife attack

A Good Avenue man was sentenced today to up to three years in prison on second-degree assault and weapons convictions for stabbing another man in the face after an argument in a cab at Paderewski Drive and Sears Avenue.

Hadid B. Askia, 30, while working as a taxi driver, slashed a Buffalo man across the face several times with a steak knife Sept. 22, 2011, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns sentenced him to two years on the assault conviction and one to three years for the weapons convictions. The sentences will run concurrently.

He was convicted in a bench trial of stabbing Christopher Southerns, 29 at the time, in the face after they argued in a cab, Buffalo police said. The District Attorney’s Office has said the attack was in retaliation for a 2004 incident in which Askia claimed the victim was involved.